India is working closely with Thai authorities to repatriate Indian nationals detained in Thailand after fleeing a military raid on a cyber crime hub in Myanmar, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said on Wednesday.
Responding to media queries, MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said, “We are aware of the Indian nationals who have been detained by the Thai authorities. They have crossed into Thailand from Myanmar in the last few days. Our mission in Thailand is working closely with the Thai authorities to verify their nationalities and repatriate them after the necessary legal formalities are completed in Thailand.”
Meanwhile, Thai Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul said the Indian ambassador would meet the head of the immigration office to discuss speeding up the legal verification process for the 500 Indian nationals before they fly back to India.
According to the Bangkok Post, several Indian nationals crossed into Thailand after the Myanmar Army raided the KK Park campus, which is known for running international cyber fraud. The military operation forced hundreds of foreign workers at the compound to flee across the border to the Thai city of Mae Sot.
Thai authorities said 1,667 people from at least 10 countries, including India, China, Nepal, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and the Philippines, had entered Thailand after the raid by Friday morning, according to the Bangkok Post.
Since last week, Myanmar’s military has launched several operations targeting the KK Park cybercrime, forcing over 1,500 people from 28 different countries to flee to the Thai border town of Mae Sot, local authorities said.
Border regions have become major hubs for online fraud since the COVID-19 pandemic, with the UN estimating that billions of dollars have been generated by the trafficking of hundreds of thousands of people forced to work in such compounds.
The KK Park campus is notorious for operating international cyber scams.
Located in Myanmar’s Myawaddy region, KK Park is well known among global law enforcement agencies for running large-scale online fraud operations. Reports indicate that the compound and surrounding facilities are controlled by Chinese crime syndicates and supported by local armed groups linked to the Myanmar military.
Since the COVID-19 pandemic, border areas in Thailand, Myanmar, Laos and Cambodia have become hotspots for cyber fraud and human trafficking. The United Nations said billions of dollars were made in these areas through forced labor and fraudulent operations, with thousands exploited by organized crime networks.
